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Israeli police arrest 5 Jews for allegedly spitting on Christian pilgrims amid spate of attacks
(JTA) — Israeli Police arrested five Jews who allegedly spit at Christian pilgrims, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to show “zero tolerance” for assailants, as Christian leaders in Israel called for more action to combat a spate of attacks on their community.
The five suspects who were arrested are accused of perpetrating spitting incidents on Monday and Wednesday. The attacks are two of several that have occurred in Jerusalem’s Old City, according to Haaretz, which caught the Monday incident on video.
In the video, the pilgrims were bearing a wooden cross while following a recreation of Jesus’s path through the city before his crucifixion. The spitters were in a crowd of Jews wearing prayer shawls and carrying a collection of four species of plants used ritually during the weeklong holiday of Sukkot, which began on Friday evening.
The arrests came after Netanyahu condemned the attacks. “Israel is fully committed to safeguarding the sacred right of freedom of worship and pilgrimage to the holy sites of all faiths,” the prime minister said in a statement released Tuesday.
“I strongly condemn any attempt to inflict harm on worshippers, and we will take urgent steps against such actions,” he said. “Offensive behavior toward worshippers is a desecration and is unacceptable. We will show zero tolerance toward any harm to worshippers.”
The Haaretz video spurred a new round of attention on the attacks, which experts on interfaith relations in Jerusalem say are frequent and intensify during holidays. The incidents are also the latest in a string of dozens of attacks on Christians across Israel this year, ranging from the toppling of a statue of Jesus to vandalism of a Protestant cemetery to clashes between Christians and Jews at a monastery in Haifa.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, said at a press conference last month that attacks on pilgrims in the Old City have “become more common,” according to Haaretz. He added, “There’s no doubt that there are rabbis who approve or even encourage it.”
Israeli Religious Affairs Minister Michael Malkieli disputed that Jewish religious authorities condoned the spitting attacks, saying in a statement that he “forcefully condemns the phenomenon of spitting at Christians in Jerusalem. This is not the way of Torah, and there’s no rabbi who supports and legitimizes such vile behavior. We must denounce it, and continue to respect all of the peoples who enter the gates of the holy city.”
But though he also condemned the spitting, Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, suggested that the perpetrators need not be arrested. And Elisha Yered, a former aide to another far-right lawmaker, posted to social media on Monday, “This is a good time to recall that the custom of spitting next to priests or churches is an ancient, longstanding Jewish custom.”
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The post Israeli police arrest 5 Jews for allegedly spitting on Christian pilgrims amid spate of attacks appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.